TWO HAPPY CAMPERS

Santa Maria del Tule, Oaxaca //

As our week at El Rancho RV Park came to a close there was zero urgency among the four of us to leave.  The week had flown by and we were relishing the comfort and convenience of clean bathrooms, hot showers, and spacious grounds shared with a handful of other travelers.  With the luxury of time on our side and nowhere we need to be until May, we chose to stay another week.

While our two trucks never moved for fourteen days, we spent many afternoons exploring the small town of El Tule on foot.  Local restaurants gave us the opportunity to try authentic Oaxacan cuisine and as Mark can attest, the mole is where Oaxaca shines.  Each dish seemed to be better than the last.  

When we wanted to go beyond El Tule we would hail a cab that would take us  into Oaxaca city for a cheap fare.  The fare being even cheaper when you hail a “colectivo”, a cab that will cram as many passengers inside as are willing to get in.  We learned this first-hand as our driver one day continued to pick up more and more people, maxing out at six adults in one tiny sedan, one of which was riding on the console.

Mostly we savored the opportunity to lay low at camp and do anything else besides drive and route plan, the two activities that easily fill your days when exploring a foreign country via truck camper.  It was day ten at El Rancho that I felt as though I’d sufficiently recovered from the burnout I’d arrived with.  My desire to be back on the road was finally starting to return.  Mark too was ready and for that I was grateful for this chance to be still and to allow our internal batteries to recharge.  

Our second week at the RV park was noticeably different than the first.  The clean bathroom and hot shower located a few short steps from our site no longer elicited elation, it was simply nice to have.  An unlimited water source led to us using far more water, not because we needed it but simply because we paid less attention to our usage.  The comfort creep set in fast, in seven short days we adapted to the amenities that had us giddy on day one.  It was a needed reminder that comfort is divine some of the time but our gratitude for it fades quickly when it becomes something that is expected.  

While these last two weeks have been an incredible and a needed break, I’m ready to trade in this walled-in compound of comfort for vast horizons, undeveloped landscapes, sunrises, sunsets, new scents, new sounds, and the mystery of driving down the road without knowing what we might find around the next bend.

Tomorrow, somewhere new.

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